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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 5 Sep 2012 11:01pm
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Looks like the 19th of September we are going to the cabin for 6 days!! Yay! I can hardly wait to get the heck out of the city and away from all this stress! Trying to think of a way to bring the chickens with us...maybe I will build a temporary coop to put them in at the cabin so they can have a vacation too!
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 10 Sep 2012 10:18am
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I made a last minute decision to go tot the cabin this past weekend with my mom and dad! Had a nice quiet time....I actually did a project or two...Our rainbarrel had a leak all summer adn with the drought is was empty most of the time anyways..I ended up stopping on my way and Menards and picking up a 32 gallon black trash can with lid for $9.99! I used it for the new rainbarrel adn low and behold we had rain 3 hours after I got it set up! Water!!!
I ended up using a foam shopvac filter to make a filter screen on the end of the inlet from the gutter... it works and I can easily take it apart to clean the filter....
Let see....I also did some organizing of a box that had all my electrical parts that had mice in it previously ....cleaned that all out.
Uummm...what else?.... oh yeah, bought some asphalt shingles to finish up the last but of siding on the addition. Just so they are there for when I want to put them up!
Vaccuumed up all the stink bugs in the cabin, they are horrible this time of year!
Walked around the property contemplating calling the county forester to come look at the drought and pine beetle stricken trees!! Sad to see some many trees die in such a short time!
Took a walk to see how things are regrowing since we clear cut some of the plantation pines...looks like the prairie is starting to fill in already...I found big and little bluestem, wild bergamott and mullen. That is nice to see the prairie trying to retake over!
And last but not least.............................Sat on the porch and THOUGHT about what else I could do! Relaxing..... 
Trees dying from drought and pine beetle
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Trees dying from drought and pine beetle2
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Wild Bergamott
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Little Bluestem
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 10 Sep 2012 10:20am
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And a few more....
The first fall fire
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Forgot to add we split and stacked some firewood
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And...rested!
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 10 Sep 2012 12:05pm
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OK....Just got off the phone with the county forester...super nice lady! She is going to walk the property this week and give me a call...She tells me not to worry... what is dead is dead already and there is not enough time left in the season for another generation to hatch and do more damage..also we have had rain now and the trees are producing sap again to protect themselves from boring beetles!! Still a lot of dead trees though!!! She is going to help with a plan to restablize the forest....YAY!
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 10 Sep 2012 09:34pm
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Great news! It is a shame to lose so many trees at once. Sounds like you had a good weekend...and it is always nice to accomplish a few things huh?
Good idea with the foam shop vac filter...someday we plan on figuring out some sort of water system. Would love to get a shower house done by next summer. I hope you are able to drive a sand point well...then you can come to our place with all your tips and tricks you will have learned along the way and do ours!!! LOL!
Seeing that first fall fire makes me excited for those cool nights at the cabin!
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RnR
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2012 02:41pm
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beautiful location! looking forward to updates.
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2012 05:25pm
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Just talked with the Forester again... She was out over this past weekend.... Worse than she thought! I am meeting her on Thursday morning to walk the property and put together a planting game plan to start some new natives to fill in the gaps... The dead trees are ashame but the addition of some new plants will be welcome and the dead trees we will leave standing for wildlife habitat and screening from the road.
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 25 Sep 2012 12:42am
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We are back after 6 days of cabin living! What a great time and.... We made more progress on the cabin than we have in 3 yrs!! 
Jason painted the 4x8 bead board that will be going on the ceiling of the porch... Light blue to apparently fool the wasps and bees into thinking it is sky and not a dry place to build a nest! He got the first 5 painted, dried and restacked on the porch before the rain that came and lasted all night! A few snow flakes fell early Saturday morning and the low temp was 29 degrees... The next day it was back at painting the 5 remaining sheets of beadboard and just as he finished the last one it started to rain! All we could do is watch the rain wash the paint right off and onto the ground... Bummer! Oh well... A little sanding and two coats of paint the next day and all was right again...
What was I doing you say?... I finished up shingling the sides of the bathroom/ foyer addition! I put up and painted window and door trim and corner boards! Looks nice!!
We ate a lot and cooked all meals at the cabin! $70 in food and drink for the week and we had leftovers to bring home! It helped that we brought some of our own home canned soup, veggies and fruit!
Painting beadboard
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Painting the final coat
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Shingle siding project started
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Shingle siding finished
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 25 Sep 2012 08:44pm - Edited by: trollbridge
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Glad you two had a great time at the cabin! Too bad about the rain but
at least it didn't spoil everything. The shade of blue you chose is very pretty and I still am so impressed with your choice of shingles for siding...so much so that we may have to steal your idea cause we still need to side our outhouse and little cabin-for now they are just osb painted. I had to smile to myself about your food bill- I was thinking last weekend "Wow, we are getting by cheap for groceries for once-I had only spent 26.00!" and we too came home with uneaten food ...only problem is...we ended up going to Superior Saturday night cause we were in a rush to get more nails at Menards and wouldn't ya know, Culvers called out and got the better of us...dang those delicious, tasty little cheese curds!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Kudzu
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# Posted: 25 Sep 2012 09:50pm
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Sounds like yall have it going on and iffin you ever write a book I will buy it, you can tell a story. Don't worry about your pines, you got 10 acres and will never be a timber tycoon. Cut the dead and plant the new, mix it up and think "wildlife", have a showroom.
Just my unsolicited advice, keep the updates coming, I sure do enjoy them
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 26 Sep 2012 05:51pm
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TB- glad you like the shingles....they are from Menards and the color is "weatherwood". I like that color because, well, it looked "weathered" already! LOL Here is a tip...lay the shigles out in the sun with the good side down before you are ready to use them and they will be much easier to cut to fit! They cost about $20 per bundle and a bundle will do about 100 square feet. I bought 3 bundles for this project and had only scraps left over....It is easy for one person to do as well...
Kudzu...thanks for the advise....after cutting and hauling so many logs this year I never want to be a timber tycoon! LOL
Thanks for the comment about writing a book...that is something I have always wanted to do! What is it you like about my writing that makes you think it would make a good book?
Working on the cabin is fun for me, but sharing it here with like minded people who appreciate it makes it even more fun....thanks
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Bevis
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# Posted: 26 Sep 2012 09:41pm
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Quoting: Sustainusfarm Light blue to apparently fool the wasps and bees into thinking it is sky and not a dry place to build a nest!
I did that to my front porch at the house, it works like a charm.
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 21 Oct 2012 08:16pm
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Well....I really mean WELL....we got a bug up our butts and decided to go up and pound a sand point well this past weekend....Bought all the pipe, couplings and rented a jackhammer with a point driver and went to work! We have all sand around the cabin and this point went in like a hot knife thru butter! We had 33 ft in the ground in 3 hours....there was alot of anticipation of finally having our own water source and water without all the treatment chemicals or chlorine like our city water...WELL...we quit at 33 ft since the pipe is $8 per foot!! We hit hard pan on the last 5 ft section of pipe and that was slow going....we gave up without getting water! 
Then neighbor Bob stopped and told us he talked with neighbor Charlie and they are cheering us on to go a bit more to break thru the hard pan...apparently the water bearing sand is just past the hard pan layer!!?? Neighbor Charlie drove his well last weekend and he got water just after he broke thru the hard pan and the water came up into his well 8 ft....we will see what next weekend brings....until then I am calling around to get a price to drill a 6" casing! See our youtube videos 1-5 on using the jack hammer setup...it worked pretty fantastic!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3TuW2yFKwM&feature=plcp
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 24 Oct 2012 10:17pm
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I recieved a price to get a 6" casing drilled ...$5500! YIKES
It would include the well drilled at 85ft, deep well pump, all electric hooked up, pipes ran 6 ft under ground and brought into the house, a pressure tank and a spigot in the house....basically ready for us to hook it into the plumbing once we get that far.
I then asked what the cost would be to just drill a well and put a hand pump on it...$4400!! What??!! That just doesnt work out to me....called another well driller today and he gave me a bunch of options and prices...he is sending me info via email in the next few days!
Next weekend we plan on pounding in a few more feet of pipe on our "dry" well just to see if there is water below the hardpan...
Here is an inside shot in panorama view shot with my iphone...
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OwenChristensen
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2012 07:42am
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I hope it all works for you. I have a shallow well here at home. At times I have cavitated the pump and it kicked out the breaker. No big deal it came back in short order, but this year it happened so much, I'm running a hose from our horse well 200' away. I don't trust that water for drinking. Still it's nice to have. It's raining now , maybe we're out of trouble.
Owen
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2012 10:35am
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Quoting: OwenChristensen It's raining now , maybe we're out of trouble
We got a good amount of rain here over night...hope you did too!
That is a lot of $$$ for a well! I really, really hope you can get deeper yourselves and hit water 
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OwenChristensen
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2012 07:46pm
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My horse well was dug with a tracked hoe. We dug as deep as he could go, then we stood a 6'' schedule 40 pipe with holes in the bottom in the middle, then poured two yards of 1 1/2'' rock, then covered the rock with ground fabric, the put the soil over that. The hole was dry as we dug, but water filled in over night. I figure the resvoir is several hundred gallons. A few days after we dug it we filled a 3,200 gal. pool. I'm going to do the same at my cabin. Even if it isn't perfect water, it's good enough for horses or to wash clothes or flush a toilet.
Owen
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KSalzwedel
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# Posted: 27 Oct 2012 11:33pm
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Keep it coming. The well suspense is killing me. We had ours dug and it ain't cheap, but not lugging water--priceless.
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 2 Nov 2012 09:20am
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We are at the cabin for a night as a landing spot on our way to the cold northern reaches of Wisconsin! Then we will come back to the cabin to pound one more piece of well pipe to see if water can be found!! Stay tuned.... Here is a pic of the project as we left it ... I just checked with the string line and it is bone dry at 33 ft! Boooo...
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 2 Nov 2012 12:37pm - Edited by: trollbridge
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Have fun in Moquah! Good luck on the well-keeping my fingers crossed for you two!!
Hey BTW...Did you get an eye-witness view of the waves coming off Lake Michigan the other day? The remnants of Hurricane Sandy? Did I remember correctly reading that you and Jason only live about a mile from the shore? Or am I crocked in the head?
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 8 Nov 2012 11:19pm
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TB- yes the waves were pretty spectacular as was the wind! The waves were crashing over the top of the main gap lighthouse for most of the day! That lighthouse is easily 5-7 stories above the water and there were times white water completely surrounded the lighthouse! A few areas south of the city had voluntary evacuations because of flooding!! What a great show for sure!
Just came back from a week in the north... Had time to pound 8 more feet of pipe in the ground for the well... WATER! We have about 6-7 ft in the well and now need to develope the well... Still working on how to do that... Any suggestion from anyone would be appreciated! We currently have 41 ft of pipe in the ground including the point... With 7 ft of water in the tube I'm guessing the static water level to be at 34 ft. I believe this to be to deep for any shallow well pump... HELP ANYONE!! How should I get the water out?? Pipe is 1-1/4".
We did try attaching a pitcher pump to the top of the pipe, it built up a lot of pressure but never spewed any water!!?? To deep?? We hope that by developing the well a bit the water will rise up to within reach but.... We don't know....??? 
Oh yeah... We had a great time 4wheeling up along the Lake Superior shore... "over the river and through the woods!"
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 9 Nov 2012 12:39pm
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Quoting: Sustainusfarm Oh yeah... We had a great time 4wheeling up along the Lake Superior shore... "over the river and through the woods!"
Glad you had a great time!!!
I am also happy that you hit water...now to watch what you do next so that we will know when our time comes...there must be a solution out there. I would suggest you post your dilemma in a separate thread for more responses 
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 5 Dec 2012 02:20pm
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Nov 30-Dec. 2
Went to the cabin to relax but the weather was so nice and in the mid 40's that we cut, stacked and piled more of the tree scraps from the spring logging operation! What a mess, but we keep chipping away at it!
Trying to stack the pine branches into piles so when that first snow hits we can burn it all up! YAY! Once that is done we have a neighbor bringing his backhoe and bulldozer in to get rid of the stumps in the clear cut area so we can plant our fruit and berry garden in the spring....
We now offically have hundreds of dead standing trees caused by the pine beetle outbreak this summer....looks like our surroundings are going to change forever...I am optmistic that is is for the best and we should have more diversification in the natural plants and lots of firewood for years to come!The pic below shows just some of the dead trees in the background...
**Well update** We checked the level of the water in the well and there is about 6-7 ft of water in the well...with 41ft in the ground and 1 ft sticking out of the ground that puts the water at 33ft below the surface of the ground...which I believe is just out of reach for us!
The new well to be drilled is gonna cost $3800...I think this is the best way to go as we will get a 6 inch well casing and be able to turn on the outside spigot and get instant water!
Now I need to go knit more wash clothes and slippers for Christmas gifts!
dead trees, looks worse in person when you look at the whole picture!
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 5 Dec 2012 02:22pm
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Yes I knit and yes I am a man! 
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trollbridge
Member
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# Posted: 5 Dec 2012 03:53pm
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Sounds like a good time...the weather was nice huh? I was wishing we were at our cabin-could have been, cause here I still sit waiting for baby to arrive.
I think it is cool that you knit!!! I'm just wondering what "wash" clothes are? Or is that a typo?
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 5 Dec 2012 07:49pm
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Wash clothes...you know clothes you wear when you do wash!?? Just kidding, it was a typo! Washcloths! Washcloths!
Maybe I should knit some baby booties!!??
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2012 12:21am
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Finally 12+ inches of new snow on the ground at the cabin.....time to burn that mess left from the logging this past spring! I will get some video and pics of the burning and post on here after New Years.
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 10 Jan 2013 07:06pm
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Got to the cabin on Sunday just before New Years and stayed through New Years Day....We have at least 16" of snow on the ground and the drive was not plowed when we arrived...OOOPS! My fault on that one! Jason thought we could drive in since the snow was so light and fluffy....WRONG! 30 ft in and we were stuck! Mind you we only have a Chevy HHR, basically a PT Cruiser.
We ended up carrying everything down the drive and through the woods in knee deep snow. We even had to carry the dogs because they could not navigate the deep snow! We started the fire right away as it was 7 degrees inside the cabin. Took about 3 hours to warm it to 70 degrees....then we went back out to tote the rest of the supplies from the car which included 14 gallons of water, our luggage, food, winter clothes, boots and coolers. what a job that was!
Twas the night of the first burning of all the slash and our first attempt only got a us a smoking, smoldering fire under a mound of snow covered boughs.
Monday we woke to a bright sunny day and 5 below zero! We are only allowed to burn at night from 6pm to midnight so all day we relaxed and ate until about 3 pm. We felt like we could not wait any longer so we started burning the first piles. To combat all the snow atop the piles we bought 4 gallons of deisel fuel to pour on the piles and then to keep the fires going we added some used motor oil! We got two piles burned before we decided that it was to cold and we were hungry for the lobster and T-bone steaks in the fridge! The food won! We grilled the rest of the night and ate steak, lobster, salad, baked potaoes and fresh baked Sara Lee apple pie....the eating ended at 1am...Happy New Years!
New Years day brought more cold below zero temps and I even had to scrape the icicles off the outhouse seat before usung it...brrr!
It was too cold outside to do anything so we sat in front of the fire all day and napped and ate some more.....we were back home by 8pm on New Years Day......7 piles left to burn before the snow melts!
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OwenChristensen
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# Posted: 10 Jan 2013 07:14pm
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Sounds like some good eatin'. I wish we had that much snow. We have maybe four inches.
Owen
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Sustainusfarm
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jan 2013 07:33pm
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Some pics of New Years 2013
The snow trail we carried everything in on!
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Snow covered
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The burn piles covered in snow
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Bloody in front of the fire
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